We had about 15 people at the meeting. (I don't think anybody counted
or took pictures.) The food was a success (although there was about 1.5
entrees too much food). Several people were attending their first
Noisebridge meeting.

The discussion focused on two major areas:

project ideas and inspirations from other hacker spaces and events

plans and ideas about 40 Ringold

We spent about 45 minutes (in several chunks) talking over people's
ideas, plans, aspirations, and inspirations. The following ended up in
my notes; unfortunately, I don't have attributions for most of them.

food hacking -- 90 micron vacuum sieve (Mark Powell?)

ham radio (antenna mast)

circuit design and building

blimp building

photography dark room

helicopters

One interesting phrase that was new to me is "Hacker Embassy". I think this nicely sums up one aspect of what we hope Noisebridge can be -- a public face for hackers to the greater community, and also a focal point for the Bay Area hacker community to interact with other hacker communities around the world.

Bill Pollock gave a status update on the building. He has hired an
architect. They are in the planning phase; there seems to be a fair
amount of flux around what work is going to be done in the near future.
As I understand it, Bill's priority is to get any structural work done
ASAP so that No Starch can move in without the disruption of ongoing
structural work in the building.

Structural work may include

foundation work, any needed seismic improvements, water mitigation (sounds like this may be less of an issue than previously thought)

expanding the upstairs to the full building footprint (or nearly)

Nonstructural construction may include

improving the patio / rear staircase

roof deck (on the part not expanded over)

new roof (on pitched portion, and/or on flat portion)

skylights

Interior renovation may include

make downstairs toilet functional

redo floors throughout

demo some interior walls to open up space

redo upstairs kitchen

redo upstairs bathroom

new windows for improved thermal, sound

Note that no specific work has been decided upon (well, the toilet is
pretty much a lock, I suspect); practicality, price, and timeframe all
need to be evaluated.

Bill expressed some concern over the idea of having a significant amount
of "stuff" in the upstairs space, given that there is a good chance of
significant disruptive construction in the not-too-distant future. (For
example, an electronics workbench in the room where a skylight is being
installed is going to get covered in construction dust; furniture such
as couches or bookshelves would need to be moved in order for new
flooring to be installed, and so on.) The primary concern as I
understand it is that "stuff" will impede progress on construction; it
might be possible to mitigate this concern if Noisebridge members commit
to moving "stuff" as necessary (between rooms, to downstairs, garage
storage, etc) on short notice.

The timeframe for this work, of course, depends on what work is being
done, and there are external dependencies (on contractors, permits,
materials delivery, weather, etc). It seems safe to say that if
structural work is decided upon, it won't be completed in less than
three months.

After some discussion the meeting broke up early and mostly adjourned to
the EFF birthday party.